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Patented May 30, I899.

I No. 626,070.

T. MASON. RAILWAY CAR AXLE BOX.

(Application filed Mar. 29, 1899.)

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No. 626,070. Patented? May-- 30, I899. T. MASONL.

RAILWAY CAR. A'XLE. BLOX.

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NITED STATES A PATENT 'FFICEQ THOMAS MASON, OF MONTREAL, CANADA.

RAILWAY-CAR AXLE-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 626,070, dated May 30, 1899.

Application filed March 29, 1899 To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS MASON, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Montreal, in the Province of Quebec and Dominion of Canada, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Railway-Car Axle-Boxes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to axle or journal boxes for railway-cars, and for purposes of illustration 1 herein set forth my invention as applied to a journal-box of the Master Oar- Builders standard; but of course my invention is applicable to axle-boxes or journalboxes of other Constructions. In such boxes as heretofore constructed the hearing or brass and its wedge or key are not free to assume the alinement which they would naturally take in consequence of irregularity and imperfection of rotation of the axle in running, with the result that the bearing and wedge or key are apt to bind and the bearing wear unevenly. One very serious evil occurring out of these defects in the common construct-ion is hot boxes.

The object of my invention is to give to the hearing all the benefits of a ball-and-socket or universal joint action and to apply my said invention to common constructions, and especially to the constructions which conform to the Master Oar-Builders standard.

As will presently appear, the invention is susceptible of a variety of applications; but the present preferred form of my said invention consists in an axle or journal box having stop-lugs applied to the sides of the box adjacent to the hearing or brass and the wedge or key,said stop-lugs having convex or curved vertical surfaces for contact with the bearing and wedge, whereby the said bearing and wedge may have a rolling action thereupon, so as to conform to the movements of the journal when the car is running. I also provide a convex-edge front stub or abutment inside the top of the box, which is substantially opposite the front edge of the wedge or key and which aids the said wedge or keyin assuming such position and alinement as to give to it the freedom of a ball-and-socket movement as nearly as practicable, this curvilinear stop or abutment taking the place of the parallel stop or abutment heretofore em- Serial No. 711.0l4. (No model.)

ployed, all as I will hereinafter more particularly set forth and finally claim.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a journalbox oraxle-box conforming to the Master Oar- Builders standard and embodying my improvements, the journal and portion of the axle being shown in elevation. Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken substantially in the plane of line 2 2, Fig. 1, and looking toward the top of the box from the bottom, the journal being omitted. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of sufficient of the side and top of the box to show the curved stop-lug. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, with both the journal and brass omitted and showing a modification. Fig. 5 is an inner plan view of a modified form of brass.

The box a, as already indicated, may be constructed in accordance with standard practice, as also may be the journal I), the dustguard c, the bearing or brass d, and the wedge or key 0. The brass or bearing is provided with the lugs d d, also as common. The sides of the box are provided with the stoplugs f, Whose surfaces f adjacent to the sides of the bearing and wedge are convex or curved and whose edges project sufficiently far into the path of movement of the lugs d d to afford engagement therefor. Heretofore the contact-surfaces of the stop-lugs with relation to the sides of the bearing and wedge have been flat or rectangular, and said stoplugs have not permitted such conformation or adjustment of the wedge and bearing to the movement of the journal in running as would suffice to keep the parts in such alinement as to prevent unevenness of wear in the bearing and obviate hot boxes; but with my convex or curved stop-lu gs the wedge and bearing have a rolling action thereon similar to the action of a ball-and-socket or, universal joint, in consequence of which the said bearing and wedge retain their alinement with the journal, with the results that the bearing wears evenly, hot-boxes are obviated, and there is a reduction in the dynamic effort required to haul a train of cars. Moreover, there is no binding of the bearing and key, but they are free to assume the alinevert or reverse the construction shown and heretofore described or to place the convex stop -lugs or stops, either or both, on the wedge or key, as shown in Fig. 4, instead of on the box itself, and these lugs may be on either the bearing, as in Fig. 5, or the wedge or key, or on both of them, and the said hearing and wedge or key, either or both, may have both the side stops and the front stop or either of them, or the side and front stops may be distributed in any other Way desired between the bearing and wedge or key and the walls of the box proper as desired. As shown in Fig. 4c, the wedge or key e has the curved side stops f with the curved front 9, the former cooperating with flat lugs h or the walls of the box and the latter with a flat portion 2' of the box. As shown in Fig. 5, the hearing or brass (Z may be made with curved side lugs (1 In any case the gist of my invention in these respects is the interposition between the box proper and the bearing and wedge or key, either or both, of the stops 0r stop-lugs having convex or curved vertical surfaces which will permit of a rolling action of the bearing and wedge or key. My present preference is for the application of the lugs to the walls of the box proper, since by this construction interchangeability with boxes of the Master Car-Builders standard is attained.

Nothing herein contained is designed to limit my invention to journal or axle boxes for railway-cars, although, as is obvious, that is the special adaptation and application of my said invention.

What I claim is 1. A railway-car axle-box, having side stoplugs constructed with convex or curved vertical surfaces next adjacent the sides of the bearing and its wedge or key, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A railway-car axle-box, of otherwise ordinary construction, provided with side stoplugs having convex or curved surfaces and adjacent to and adapted to come in contact with the hearing and its wedge or key, and an end stop having aconvex edge next the front edge of the said wedge or key, substantially as described.

3. In a railway-car axle-box, the combination of the box proper and the bearing and its wedge or key, with side stop-lugs having convex or curved vertical surfaces and upon which the said bearing and its wedge or key have a rolling action, substantially as described.

4. In a railway-car axle-box, of otherwise ordinary construction, the box proper, the bearing and the wedge or key, combined with side stop-lugs and an end stop, each of which has a convex or curved vertical su rface,whereby the bearing and the wedge or key have a rolling action,substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of March, A. D. 189.).

' 'lHOS. MASON. \Vitnesses:

R. H. BARRON,

THOS. W. BENDoN. 

